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Missionary Newsletter February 2012

Dear Church friends,

Hello again from Kitwe! This is the time of year for planting and harvesting.

Maize growing on the roadside

From November we have 5
months of almost daily warm rain and people are able to raise crops
without a permanent water supply. Food is important in Zambia, and
everyone who can, either has or rents a field where they can grow the
basic staple, maize. Those who are not in that fortunate position will still
try and plant where they can, common ground, road verges, in fact any
unused land they can find. 2012 started off for me with an invitation
from Moses to attend his inauguration to the men's fellowship at
Kawama church on New Year's day. The newly enrolled members are
then allowed to wear the traditional red coat of the fellowship, and some
go the whole hog with red waistcoats and trousers too! Kawama is about
5 kilometres away, down the very potholed road that leads to Kamatipa.
Moses assured me there would be plenty of parking, as leaving the car unsupervised in the road can mean
the chance of no windscreen wipers when you return.

Moses in his red suit

Turning onto the dirt road that leads to the CatholicTurning onto the dirt road that leads to the CatholicChurch my way was blocked by two busses. I got out and asked where the
drivers were, in the hope that one might move his bus. "Still drunk" was
the reply from a man who thumbed to the nearest pub, helpfully he did
point out another route, which, although a bit of a quagmire, was
passable ... just! The "safe" car park also proved a challenge. I had to
negotiate a ditch which Moses had failed to mention. There were plenty
of willing hands to help me steering in and pushing out of the ditch. I tried
to ignore the crunch of the back axle both times, and needless to say mine
was the only vehicle in the car park! The service lasted just a little under 4
hours, and about a dozen or so men were initiated into the fellowship.

Playing "Simon Says"

A major event for me this
year has been the opening of
the Play4All project. This is to serve the children of Kamatipa,
by giving them good adult role models and helping educate
through play those who cannot afford to go to school. The
event, Bemba style, included lots of loud music and an MC; 4
speeches and a vote of thanks. Entertainment in the form of
singing and dancing, and poems were provided by the
children, the volunteers and the youth group. The youth group
also performed a play about the misfortunes of not giving your
wife enough money to feed the family as she may run off with
someone else!

All rounded off with lots of food and drink. Around thirty adults were invited and probably 300 children
turned up. (Kamatipa has around 8,000 under 15 years old). Of course, we had delays, which gave us the
opportunity to play games with the children, and when we eventually located the drummers and dancers
and brought them to the site we were only about 1.5 hours
late starting! Now the official opening is over the real work
begins and Ernest and I will be attending three mornings a
week for the next couple of months to help get things into a
routine.

Ernest interprets for the guest speaker

As I mentioned earlier, this is the season for serious planting,
and the ladies from lpusukilo have had support to rent a field
and plant maize. They literally worked from dawn to dusk
hoeing and planting the maize, the main worry for them now is
the rats that will eat the young plants. They have tied colourful
strips of plastic bags to sticks to try and deter them until the
stalks become unpalatable.

Items for Praise

The enthusiasm of the Play4All volunteers and the children.

The Congo seems to have settled down and accepted the 2nd term of Joseph Kabila as president.

President Sata has removed the (corrupt) practice of charging for consultations at the local clinics.

Items for Prayer

The Play4All project to become part of community life in Kamatipa and improve the life chances of
the children who come.

That the governments policies to stem poverty will be effective.

The DOWIZA group at Ipusukilo to have a successful harvest in June.

For the new intake of ministerial and deaconate students to settle into their studies.

That Zambia will win the Africa Cup of Nations! (Football is very important here!).